If you find yourself enthralled with the opening sequence of the latest Hollywood blockbuster or wondering how they managed to build that cool transition in your favorite YouTube video, then a hobby or even career as a motion graphic designer might just be perfect for you!
What Does A Motion Graphic Designer Do?
You know the cool title sequence for M. Night Shyamalan’s Split or the creepy double exposure filled credits in True Detective? Motion graphic artists are the geniuses behind such film elements.
Motion graphic artists put their creative talents towards helping the film flow throughout by creating meaningful and well-placed transitions. It’s easy to do using professional seamless transitions for Premiere Pro, for example, check out this Film Impact premium transition packs. They tell the story with powerful text and eye-catching graphic imagery. And their creations help take the viewer’s imagination to a new height.
A Career As A Motion Graphic Designer
Every video project needs a motion graphic designer in some capacity. Sometimes they add a few title sequences and transitions and call it a day, other times they build complex sequences that tie the entire project together.
A career as a motion graphic designer, for example Scott from moon-man.com, can be an engaging one due to the diversity of projects. Better yet, you can focus on work you love to do and get paid for it!
Speaking of pay, motion graphic designers make a varied salary. According to PayScale, the average hourly rate is $27.12 with the average yearly salary at $57,750. Overall, the salaries of motion graphic designers typically range from $40,000 to $83,000.
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How To Get Started
If you want to become a motion graphic designer, the best advice we can give is just to get started. Get yourself access to a motion graphics program and start making waves.
There are a lot of great official education routes that you can take to become a motion graphic artist. There are also a lot of free resources out there for you so you can get a head-start building your portfolio. If you’re ready to get started today, just do it!
You can start on YouTube, searching video editing and motion graphic design tutorials will bring a whole host of great resources. You can also head to sites like Motion Array where they have a ton of free resources like After Effects and Premiere Pro tutorials.
While watching videos is a great way to introduce yourself to the tools and processes, tutorials will help you turn your motion graphics interest into experience.
Working With Templates
If you’re at a loss of what to use for your first project and simply want to play around with an already made project and make it your own then using a template is the best place to start.
Templates are pre-made projects. They come already packed for you with different design and graphic elements that you can then modify and change into a small project or use it as a jumping board for your first big masterpiece!
You can find Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects templates on Motion Array. These come as fully edited projects with music. You can then simply replace the footage with your own or change the music. Or you can use it as a jumping off point to take a project to new heights.
Working with a project that someone has already built is a great way to get started learning — you can make small edits and tweaks to the project, or you can teach yourself to rebuild the whole project from scratch.
Pay Attention To What’s Out There
Part of growing and learning as a motion graphic designer is to pay attention to what’s happening in the industry around you. That means watching films — from Hollywood blockbusters to low-budget indie web shows and everything in between.
See what other designers are working on. What’s trending in the industry, what is being experimented on and, most importantly, what do you like! Paying attention to the industry helps keep you tapped into the industry and decide what you want to try to learn next.
The best part about being a motion graphic artist is in continuous learning and working on projects you love.
Try New Things
Every industry has rules that are truly meant to be broken. Nowhere is that truer than in motion graphic design where the only real limit you have is your imagination. Once you’ve gotten the hang of designing using Adobe tools and are ready to start bending the rules, just go for it!
Get Started Today
If you’re ready to start dipping your toes into the water and take your first steps toward becoming a motion graphic designer, then now is the perfect time to start.
Motion graphic design is a role with versatility that requires not only creativity and passion but a bit of technical know-how. And it’s a great role to grow not only your interests but your skillset. Whether you build a career as a motion graphic artist or simply start a new hobby!
